Start by Leaping through Fear
2:35 pm in The Leap by Jane Chin, Ph.D.
Kelli asks:
I’ve wanted to start a business of my own for years, and have done some freelance writing, speaking, and clothing design & construction. However, I get really intimidated to just jump in and start!
Do any of you have any advice for someone who is battling with self-doubt and fear of not being enough of an expert?
Kelli, your question touches the core of what I, and many entrepreneurs experience: Fear.
When I first started out:
I was afraid of not being enough of an expert.
I was afraid of doing something I’ve never done before.
I was afraid of not knowing where my next paycheck was coming from.
Here’s what I did:
I Start by Leaping through Fear.
Here’s the way it worked for me.
START
The paradox of dreaming is that in order to make dreams real, we have to “start” something.
This almost always involves physical action.
Nothing paralyzes a dream faster than “dreaming into the dream”, where we keep everything within our mental reality. If we put no energy into translating our mental reality into physical reality, our dream takes permanent residence in our minds.
Here are 3 ways to “start”:
- Write a business plan. This puts a real framework around your dream.
- Meet people with similar interests. I’m not talking about “networking” in the general sense, or meeting people who want to start a business “in general”. I’m talking about meeting up with people who are doing some aspect of what you want to do.
- Identify the most immediate tangible service or product you can provide. Create it.
LEAP
There’s a reason why we’re asked to take “leaps” of faith and not “a leisurely stroll” of faith.
We have to let go of “what if” and leap.
Only after we have punted ourselves into the unknown can we then contemplate, “what next”.
Too often we get caught in the web of “what next” before we ever take that leap. The result? We become a prisoner of our own web of “what next”.
Here are 3 ways to “leap”:
- Take at least 1 “tactic” from your business plan or 1 action from your “to-do risks” (you read it right: not a “to-do list” but a “to-do risk“). Execute it without regard of outcome.
- Engage and immerse yourself into your niche. Schedule weekly telephone calls with a colleague and talk about emerging trends in your interest area. Make a habit of monitoring online new developments in your area. For my work in mentoring microbusiness owners, I have committed myself to visiting message boards relating to microbusinesses and home-based businesses and observing the types of questions, issues, and challenges that prospect clients (mentees) may experience.
- With the tangible service or product you have created. Share it (“give it away”). Your aim is to provide value. You cannot worry about making money at this stage.
FEAR
Wow, where do I even start with this one? People have written entire books on fear and overcoming fear. Motivational speakers and Experts have created entire careers working with the topic of fear!
I’ve written a few articles on fear as well, because I experience fear on a regular basis. From personal experience with fear, here are 3 perspectives I can share:
- I’ve learned to tell the difference between types of fear, based on the “nature” of fear I experience. One relates to immediate physical survival, the other is wholly based on “shadow” fear that exists in our minds.
- I’ve learned that whenever I’m about to grow, I feel fear because I’m no longer in my comfort zone. Once I identify this, I can even welcome the fear as a signal that growth is about to begin.
- I’ve learned that the more often I leap through fear, the better I become at managing fear that comes with new unknowns. My ability to work with fear is like a mental muscle that needs training to get stronger and smarter.
Great article on getting started. I’m going to quote you as I get asked this same question by new authors that have just taken my book marketing strategy course.
Warren Whitlock
http://BookMarketingStrategy.com
Warren, “the leap” is one of the reasons why many prospective entrepreneurs hold back, and why many more seek the advice of mentors and coaches and those who have “been there and done that”.
Your “RULE ONE OF ANY GAME: You can only get smarter by playing with a smarter player” is the reason why I have invested time and ($) resources to work with coaches and mentors when I first started out as an entrepreneur. I firmly believe in learning from those who have done what you would like to do.
Best wishes,
Jane Chin
Hi Jane – you’ve done a great job of suggesting action steps Kelli can take; and perhaps the answer about emotional fear could be expanded on. I’m glad you mentioned coaching; coaching is a great place to start. Beyond coaching, there is emotional healing – not what coaches do, not what counsellors do either! Emotional healing deals with the underlying reason for the shadow fear. If you consider the thought that we create the circumstances of our lives in order to heal an unresolved emotion, and that we keep on creating circumstances that allow us to feel that unresolved emotion in greater and greater amounts until we HAVE to heal it – it’s just too uncomfortable not to – then it makes sense to just go ahead and heal the underlying reason for the shadow fear as soon as you recognize it, as well as take the action steps – otherwise one risks simply creating another circumstance to feel the fear.
@ Cara Beckett:
Hi Cara – thank you for taking this article to the next step, and introducing the role of emotions and shadow fear, and especially for mentioning the term “shadow fear”.
I have written at least 2 pieces that explores emotional shadows and the nature of fear outside of this website.
One is called “Safety Nets” and is as follows:
We get scared / Leaping out of / Safety nets / We had set / For ourselves.
We forget that / We needed no / Safety nets / To begin with / And at all.
These highs / And lows / Are machinations / Of ego and / Its taunting.
We believe / We can break / When the light / That we are / Is never broken.
(Original source: http://whatilovetodo.com/?p=72)
The other is a long piece, “The Nature of Fear”; an excerpt below:
Here is the question I ask myself: “Am I facing the Fear of Death or Am I facing the Fear of the Shadow of Death?”
… Man can put a lot of weight and reality behind a shadow of death and claim this as the same as death itself even when this was “really not” death.
(original source: http://whatilovetodo.com/?p=59)
I have found that many of our shadow fears are often hidden from view because we have learned to suppress the memories of the originating incident as a coping mechanism.
Over time, this in turn leads to a state of “soullessness” where we begin to live as a shell of a person instead of the whole person we once were. Elsewhere I had written about Soullessness:
I think Soullessness is occurring as a defense mechanism against intense pain.
(original source: http://www.liveyourinspiration.com/soullessness)
Now we’re really diving deep into the multi-dimensional and complex workings of why we behave and think the way we do, and how our “state of being” influences the reality we henceforth create, including our actions around businesses and entrepreneurship.
Sincerely,
Jane Chin
Thank you Ms. Jane for the very inspiring article! =) I’m about to start a microbussiness of selling brownies, cookies.